Comparison of packet analyzers

The following tables compare general and technical information for several packet analyzer software utilities, also known as network analyzers or packet sniffers. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.

General information

Basic general information about the software—creator/company, license/price, etc.

Creator Latest release User interface Software license Cost
Allegro Network Multimeter Allegro Packets July 20, 2023 / v4.0.4 web GUI Proprietary Non-free, price on request, depending on device and extensions
Cain and Abel Massimiliano Montoro April 7, 2014 / 4.9.56 GUI Freeware Free
Capsa Colasoft April 24, 2018 / 11.1[1] GUI Proprietary $0–$995, depending on version[2]
Carnivore Federal Bureau of Investigation ? ? N/A ?
Charles Web Debugging Proxy Karl van Randow July 10, 2017 / 4.1.4 GUI ? $30–$50 (Free Trial)
Clarified Analyzer Clarified Networks GUI Proprietary Non-free
Clusterpoint Network Traffic Surveillance System Clusterpoint web GUI Proprietary ?
CommView TamoSoft November 30, 2017 / 6.5 Build 770 GUI Proprietary $299–$599, $149 1 year subscription
dSniff Dug Song December 17, 2000 / 2.3[3] CLI BSD License Free
EtherApe Juan Toledo June 3, 2018 / 0.9.18[4] GUI GNU General Public License Free
Ettercap ALoR and NaGA August 1, 2020 / 0.8.3.1-Bertillon[5] Both GNU General Public License Free
Fiddler Eric Lawrence / Telerik October 3, 2019 / 5.0.20194[6] GUI Freeware Free
justniffer The Justniffer team March 21, 2016 / 0.5.15[7] CLI GNU General Public License Free
Kismet Mike Kershaw (dragorn) May 2, 2020 / 2020-04-R3[8] CLI GNU General Public License Free
Microsoft Message Analyzer Microsoft October 28, 2016 / 1.4[9] GUI Proprietary Free
Microsoft Network Monitor Microsoft June 24, 2010 / 3.4 GUI Proprietary Free
netsniff-ng Daniel Borkmann November 7, 2016 / 0.6.2 CLI GNU General Public License Free
ngrep Jordan Ritter September 7, 2017 / 1.47 CLI BSD-style Free
Observer Viavi Solutions (formerly Network Instruments) GUI Proprietary Price on request
OmniPeek (formerly AiroPeek, EtherPeek) LiveAction (formerly Savvius, WildPackets) November 2017 / 11.1 GUI Proprietary $1194–$5994, depending on version[10]
Sniffer Netscout (formerly Network General) 2013[11] GUI Proprietary Non-free
SteelCentral Transaction Analyzer OPNET Technologies/Riverbed Technology June 9, 2014 / 17.0.T-PL1[12] GUI Proprietary Non-free
snoop Sun Microsystems December 11, 2006 / Solaris 10 CLI CDDL Free
tcpdump The Tcpdump team April 7, 2023 / 4.99.4[13] CLI BSD License Free
Wireshark (formerly Ethereal) The Wireshark team November 22, 2021 / 4.0.6[14] Both GNU General Public License Free
Xplico The Xplico team May 2, 2019 / 1.2.2[15] Both GNU General Public License Free

Operating system support

The utilities can run on these operating systems.

Client Microsoft Windows macOS Linux BSDs Solaris Other
Cain and Abel Yes No No No No No
Capsa Free Edition Yes No No No No No
Carnivore Yes No No No No No
Charles Web Debugging Proxy Yes Yes Yes ? ? ?
CommView Yes No No No No No
dSniff ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
EtherApe No Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Ettercap Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
justniffer No Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Kismet Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Lanmeter No No No No No Fluke proprietary hardware
netsniff-ng No No Yes No No No
ngrep Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes AIX, BeOS, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX
Microsoft Network Monitor Yes No No No No No
OmniPeek (formerly AiroPeek, EtherPeek) Yes No No No No No
snoop No No No No Yes No
tcpdump Yes (WinDump) Yes Yes Yes Yes AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX
Wireshark (formerly Ethereal) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX
Xplico No No Yes No No No

References

  1. ^ "Colasoft Announces Release of Capsa Network Analyzer v11.1 with Enhanced Usability" (Press release). April 25, 2018.
  2. ^ "Capsa Enterprise Edition & Standard Edition & Free Edition – Colasoft". Archived from the original on January 20, 2013.
  3. ^ "CHANGES". monkey.org.
  4. ^ "EtherApe, a graphical network monitor". etherape.sourceforge.net. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  5. ^ "Releases · Ettercap". ettercap-project.org. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  6. ^ "Fiddler Release History". Telerik. October 3, 2019.
  7. ^ "justniffer - Browse Files at SourceForge.net". SourceForge. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  8. ^ "Kismet". kismetwireless.net. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  9. ^ "Download Microsoft Message Analyzer from Official Microsoft Download Center". Microsoft. Archived from the original on August 3, 2019.
  10. ^ "store.savvius.com". Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  11. ^ Netscout (2013). 2013 Netscout Sniffer Portable.
  12. ^ "SteelCentral Transaction Analyzer".
  13. ^ "Tcpdump/Libpcap public repository". tcpdump.org. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  14. ^ "Wireshark 4.0.6 Released". May 24, 2023. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  15. ^ "Xplico – Xplico 1.2.2".